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Melrose (Metro-North station)
The Melrose (also known as Melrose–East 162nd Street) Metro-North Railroad station on the Harlem Line serves the residents of Melrose, Bronx. It is 6.1 miles (9.8 km) from Grand Central Terminal and located in an open cut beneath Park Avenue at its intersection with East 162nd Street. Service at Melrose is limited;1 trains stop approximately every half-hour during rush hours and every hour all other times. This station is the first/last in the Zone 2 Metro-North fare zone and CityTicket inter-city ticket zone. Historyedit A station along the New York and Harlem Railroad in Melrose was known to exist as far back as 1841. When Melrose station was rebuilt by the New York Central Railroad in the late 19th century, it contained a station house as a bridge over all four tracks, with two island platforms. Similar structures were built for the former Morrisania Station, as well as Tremont Station.23 As with other NYC stations in the Bronx, the station became a Penn Central station once the NYC & Pennsylvania Railroads merged in 1968. However, because of the railroad's serious financial distress following the merger, commuter service was turned over to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1972. Penn Central was acquired by Conrail in 1976, and the line and station were completely turned over to Metro-North Railroad in 1983. In 1988, the station was nearly closed due to the station's low daily ridership of 20. Metro-North planned to close the station on April 1, 1988, but delayed it by ninety days at the request of Bronx officials. Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer said that the agency created a self-fullfilling prophecy by failing to promote the station and by not maintaining it. Service at the station was very infrequent, and as a result local residents did not consider using it.45 Melrose was removed from the April 3, 1988 timetable but was reinstated on the June 19, 1988 timetable.67 Prior to the opening of the Yankees–East 153rd Street station on the Hudson Line in 2009, this was the closest station on the New York Central (later Penn Central) to Yankee Stadium. Specials ran to and from this station to serve events at the stadium.89 The station is located just south of a former wye with the northern terminus of the former Port Morris Branch, and was renovated, with the northbound platform moved out from underneath the overpass to its current location, circa 2006. In 2012, Melrose residents expressed concern regarding the station; residents would like to see more frequent service, but track and capacity limitations hinder the amount of service available for the stop. Other concerns regarded the lack of handicap access, and the past closure of the main entrance to the stop. The main entrance was closed when the community was at the height of its turmoil, but as the community has regained its footing the desire to have the station open to the primary commercial street, 161st Street, has grown. Station layoutedit The station has two offset high-level side platforms each two cars long reached by stairway from East 162nd Street. When trains stop at this station, normally the front two open cars receive and discharge passengers. The west platform is located underneath East 162nd Street and the New York City Housing Authority's Morrisania Air Rights public housing project.